Ditched Cheating Alpha, I Led My Daughter to Life's Peak novel Chapter 275

Carson raises his free hand, the one that's not currently wrapped around me.

I give him a high five happily, but then I stand on my tippy toes to whisper, "I'm never dealing with refugees again."

His eyes light up. He leans down, whispering against my ear, "I say we leave it all to Aiden from now on."

I nod vigorously.

Aiden gives us a flat look, walking back to the car. I fall in love with the feeling of Carson's chest rumbling with laughter. His golden eyes burn against the evening sun. My skin burns where I'm touching him.

We walk hand in hand behind Aiden, barely leaving any space between us. He keeps knocking his shoulder into mine. We walk like drunkards, but we're just so focused on each other, staggering every time we forget where we're going.

"It's your fault," I say.

He whispers against my lips that it's mine. He pulls my bottom lip between his teeth, and that's where I have to draw the line. Giving him a look. Remembering myself. Remembering Aiden. Carson puts his hands up in defense, but that can only last so long with him.

He keeps stealing kisses, innocent ones this time, when he claims, "No one's looking." I steal a few too, even though I put them on the back of his hand for practical reasons (like I don't have a ladder). Today was a good day. That may sound selfish to say, given the circumstances. I know the refugee situation isn't solved. I know those people could still be hunted down and killed. I know there's still a war going on, and I'm still in danger, but hey, we tried today. We really tried today, as a pack. We did the best we could, and I just... That has to count for something right?

I look into Carson's eyes.

We'll do better tomorrow. That's what I have to believe.

He rubs his hands up and down my arms, pulling me against his chest. "Hey." He stops walking. "Is everything alright?"

There's a war going on somewhere, but it just doesn't feel like that to me. Everything feels calm, and steady, and right, right now. Right here, with him. In his arms. In this place. In this fleeting moment that could be gone in a second. Suddenly the calm doesn't feel so great anymore. I hold onto Carson tighter.

Did his father know? The hour, the minute, the second before he lost their mother, did he know that she would be gone forever? And if any one of the brothers was about to die, would I feel it in my gut? Or would they just disappear from my life forever? Just like that?

I stare at Aiden's back, willing him not to take a step further. I feel how far away Axel is all at once. What if something's happening to him? What if he needs us? And my family? The other betas?

Carson's face falls. "Mia-"

"It's nothing." I shake my head, pulling him further down the path.

He reluctantly follows, but his eyes never leave me. "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing." I shrug.

He frowns. "Why are you blocking me?"

"Prance in a...?" Aiden looks at Carson.

Carson tries not to laugh.

I glare at both of them, jokingly. "Oh come on. Don't act like that. I've read all the fics. There had to be one point where you guys were like-"

"Darn," Carson laughs. "What ever will we do? We can't frolic through the woods with our mate?"

Aiden scoffs.

I throw the keys at his head.

He catches them effortlessly, unlocking the car. "Thanks."

I hate him sometimes. He slips into the driver seat. I get into the passenger's seat if only to bother him throughout the two hour drive. Carson closes the door behind me, that is, after he tries to convince me to come to the back with him.

"Think about it this way," Carson says once Aiden starts driving. "Do you ever wish we were human?" He sounds so confident. "Of course not. Because you love us the way we-"